


Nightmare

by The_Prince_of_Dots



Category: Thomas Sanders
Genre: Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Lies, Nightmares, Pre Accepting Anxiety, dark side!Anxiety, dark sides vs light sides
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-08 18:17:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14111217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Prince_of_Dots/pseuds/The_Prince_of_Dots
Summary: Part of Roman's job is to deal with Dream Mode, but the subconscious is a tricky thing to handle and the Others don't make it any easier.





	Nightmare

He was running.

The thing they don’t tell you when you’re someone’s Creativity is that not only do you get to be in charge of the delight that is Daydream Mode, but you also have to manage Dream Mode. And he said  _manage_  and not  _take charge of_  because Dream Mode was where everything became chaotic. The subconscious was a playground that took no prisoners; it was random and unpredictable. Daydreams, at least, abided by the rules that he made up.

And of all the frequent inhabitants of the subconscious, it was he who knew the  _least_  about how to navigate and control it. This was where the  _dark_ sides often hid and plotted. And no matter how good of a dream he tried to set up, one or more of them would always try to jump in.

Deceit was fun to work with. Usually, at least. Deceit was as much of an actor as Roman was, so he could often be convinced to help create something wonderful. They were often wild and nonsensical, but they were  _good_  dreams. And Deceit taught Roman a lot, if in a roundabout way. It was from him that Roman learned that they could shapeshift, and to what extent, and how to do it really well. Deceit was helpful. Usually, at least. Some things he did though…well, there was a reason he was part of the dark sides, and a reason they only ever spoke to each other when Roman had to do Dream Mode.

Anxiety was not fun to work with. Usually even his mere presence would cause dreams to become nightmares. Climbing a mountain? Well, now the mountain is a dragon and it’s angry. Kissing a boy? Someone finds out and all of a sudden Thomas’s social life is crashing and burning. It didn’t matter if Thomas had been out for years and surrounded by good people. Anxiety was nonsensical and  _bad_. Heck, he even still created those “coming to school with no clothes on” nightmares, and Thomas hadn’t been in school for  _years_.

The  _others_  though…never good. Roman hated running into them. Deceit and Anxiety could at least be worked with. The other two were always best avoided.

So now he was running. Because all four of them had come together to create a nightmare of epic proportions, and the one thing that They  _did_  tell you when you become Creativity is that if you die in a dream, you die in real life. And somehow, Roman was the protagonist of this dream. Not “Roman” himself, of course, he was “Thomas” and also a little bit of “Harry Potter.” But mostly “Thomas.” What had started out as a nice Hogwarts dream was quickly becoming a hyperrealistic Florida nightmare.

He couldn’t look back. He wasn’t  _exactly_  sure what was behind him, but he knew that he couldn’t look back. Not after what it had done.

And then, he couldn’t move. He could hear it moving closer, but he was frozen. Panic rose within him, and he tried to think of tricks to get out of this.

He tried to scream, but he couldn’t make a sound.

He tried to move; forwards, backwards, even a blink. Nothing. He couldn’t.

He tried to use his own power to force a wake-up from Thomas. But he was only one side. And he was out of his element. And for once, Sleep was actually doing his job.

 _If you die in the dream you die in real life._  The dark sides wouldn’t  _actually_  let that happen, would they? Anxiety, at least, should have better self-preservation than that!

But  _it_  was almost here now, he could feel that in his veins. And, terrifyingly, he was struck with the notion that the dark sides didn’t have total control over this realm either. They could very well be powerless to stop this.

And then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a bright blue polo. He heard a “Would you like some cookies? The PTA said they were pan-tastic!” followed by the sound of a cookie pan hitting something squishy. Then there was a “bye now!” and a warm hand clasping his.

And then he was on the floor of Patton’s room. Now that he was in a safe place, the terror of the nightmare washed over him and he could do nothing but sob. “It’s okay,” Patton said. “It’s safe here.”

And that only made him sob harder because that’s what Deceit said right before everything went to hell and  _of course_  it was a lie it was Deceit after all and he  _should_  have known but he didn’t and some hero  _he_  was–

“Roman. Hey, Roman,” Patton said, quietly, but with enough intensity to get Roman’s attention. “Hey kiddo. Let’s not focus on those thoughts right now. Why don’t you tell me about five things you can see?”

Roman took a shaky breath, then opened his eyes. “Um, you, and…the walls– _sniff_ –and Logan’s awards…and the carpet…and your bed.”

“Great, Roman. Now what about four things you can feel?”

He had to see what his hands were grabbing onto because he couldn’t identify the texture at first. “Your, uh, shirt,” he started out, sheepishly, “and your arms around me, and I feel really warm from crying, and…uh…I’m kinda nauseous.” Rational thought was somewhat returning. At the very least, he recognized the fact that he was nauseous from crying and that medicine probably wouldn’t be necessary.

“Alright, we’ll wait a few minutes to see if your stomach calms down, and if it doesn’t, I’ll make tea,” Patton said. “In the meantime though, what’s three things you can hear?”

“Your breathing,” Roman said, sniffling. “Your voice. And my own voice.”

“Two things you can smell?”

“Cookies,” Roman answered immediately. “And…uh…is that Christmas?”

“Oooh, it probably is. I think I left that out again.” Patton didn’t move to put it away. “What’s one thing you can taste?”

“N-nothing,” Roman said. “Uh, normal mouth taste I guess?”

“Alright,” Patton said, stroking Roman’s hair. “Okay. That’s good!”

They stayed like that for a few minutes, with Roman desperately clinging to Patton and Patton with his arms comfortably around Roman. Patton just felt so  _solid_  and unchanging, as opposed to the continuous fluidity of the subconscious. He was the rock that was currently holding Roman steady, which was just what he needed at the moment.

Once Roman’s sniffles had mostly stopped, Patton asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Roman said, pushing away a bit in order to wipe his eyes. “Thanks Patton. Your help was…a real boon to me. I’m in your debt.”

“Aww kiddo, you’re not in debt to me,” Patton said comfortingly. “I’m the dad! It’s my job to protect!”

“I’m the knight in shining armor,” Roman said. “I should be protecting  _you_.”

“Well then, I guess we’ll just have to protect each other!” Patton said, softly but with enthusiasm. He brushed Roman’s hair out of his face, and smiled in the way parents do to assure children that they’re safe and loved.

“Yes,” Roman said, silently making a promise to never let the  _Others_  lay a hand on Patton. “I guess we shall.”


End file.
